FOUL

President of Afghan Soccer Federation Accused of Physical, Sexual Assault by Female Players

At least three members of the women’s national soccer team in Afghanistan provided gruesome details to bolster their allegations of physical and sexual assault against the federation’s president, according to a Thursday report from The Guardian. The outlet first reported on the alleged assaults in November—but in the new report, three accusers provide new details about the trauma they allegedly suffered at the hands of Keramuudin Karim. One woman claims that Karim physically attacked and sexually assaulted her in a secret room attached to his office. “When I woke up, all my clothes were gone and there was blood everywhere,” she said. “I was shaking, I didn’t know what happened to me. The bed was covered in blood, blood was coming from my mouth, nose and vagina.” When she threatened to go to the media, she claims, Karim brandished a gun and threatened to kill her and her family. Another alleges that Karim threatened to cut out her tongue after she rejected his advances, and later attempted to sexually assault her. And a third claims that after she pushed Karim away, he dropped her from the national team and told people that she was a lesbian.

After The Guardian’s November report broke, Afghanistan’s attorney general suspended Karim and four other members of the Afghanistan Football Federation. FIFA told the newspaper that it was conducting an independent investigation, and that it had suspended Karim for 90 days, noting that the punishment could increase pending the result of its probe.